Image: Pixabay

Instant Family: Review

Have you ever noticed the thing with film comedies nowadays? That they’ll put the best jokes in the trailer, implying that there’s more humour to come when the watch the film, and then it’s almost invariably not very funny. Well, I want to get something out of the way now – the trailers for Instant Family lied to you in a different way, pitching this film almost as a ‘battle of the grandmothers’, and it’s certainly not that. What Instant Family is a frequently funny and enjoyable film, buoyed with a surprising amount of heart.

Married couple, ‘Pete’ (Mark Wahlberg) and ‘Ellie Wagner’ (Rose Byrne), feel a void in their marriage, and decide to visit a foster care centre. They are guided by two social workers on the steps to becoming adoptive parents, and they are brought to an adoption fair, ultimately expressing interest in raising ‘Lizzy’ (Isabela Moner), a teenager. It turns out that Lizzy comes with two younger siblings but, despite their initial concerns, the Wagners are determined to make fostering work. They very quickly feel in over their heads, but can they make it through the challenges and prove that they can be good parents?

the film’s climax that had me in tears

The film really belongs to the core family of five. We know by know that Wahlberg and Byrne are excellent comedy stars, and the bouncy chemistry they share here feels so natural. However, the film also offers them the chance to reach into some surprisingly deep emotional waters (for a family comedy), and they do so beautifully. But this is an ensemble piece, and Moner provides a really nuanced performance – she’s a teenager who has had to cope with a lot in life, and her guardedness and hostility hide a raw vulnerability, which manifests in a heart-tugging scene at the film’s climax that had me in tears. She’s coupled, too, with a rarity in Hollywood – two child actors (Gustavo Quiroz and Julianna Gamiz) who can actually act.

That doesn’t mean that the supporting cast get little to do, but it means their appearances are funny without outstaying their welcome. Julie Hagerty (who I haven’t seen in anything since Airplane!) and Margo Martindale appear as Ellie and Pete’s mothers respectively, offering a bit of maternal advice in between some jokes. Octavia Spencer and Tig Notaro have the most substantial supporting roles as the social workers, forming a nice little double act that play off each other well, and they also helm a parental support group. This set-up gives Pete and Ellie a chance to vent to a group of other amusing foster parents, who are sketched in enough to be funny without being overly caricatured.

We get a lot of laughs, sure, but the film is not shy in confronting some of the pitfalls and struggles of adoption

It seems an odd thing to say of the man who helmed Daddy’s Home and its sequel, but Instant Family is an exercise in comedic restraint, and that makes it really funny – it delivers its laughs, but doesn’t make them too stupid or beat you into submission with them. Director and co-writer Sean Anders draws on his own life in this film (he adopted three children himself), and it makes the film feel authentic. We get a lot of laughs, sure, but the film is not shy in confronting some of the pitfalls and struggles of adoption (with some highly specific examples, like dealing with pre-established eating habits or the children’s natural love for their biological parents). It balances that fine line between satirising and commenting on these issues, yet still making them funny – a fantastic example sees Pete and Ellie’s parental enthusiasm causing them to tackle a dick pic in all the wrong ways, but in very amusing ones that still ring true. If there’s an issue with Instant Family, it may be a bit too sentimental for some, and a bit too familiar – I thought that at points, however, and I still loved it.

I went to Instant Family not expecting a lot – maybe a cheesy comedy, a throwaway bit of stupid fun. I really didn’t expect the heart, and the nuanced way that it looks at the issues surrounding adoption. Instant Family is a wonderful example of how family movies can be serious without losing their humour, fun without excluding anyone with excessive raunchiness, and tug the heartstrings yet still be wonderfully funny. Don’t make the mistake I made, imagining that this is your typical throwaway family comedy – it’s so much more than that, and I’d really recommend it.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.